1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a phased array antenna, and, more particularly, to a phased array antenna having a ground plane integrated therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
Densely populated radiators in a phased array antenna present assembly problems in how the radiators are terminated into a ground plane. A typical solution is to use a metal face plate as the ground plane. This metal face plate is machined to provide cut-outs for the radiators and is secured to the antenna array using conventional mechanical attachment, e.g., screws. If the array has separately polarized radiators that operate at higher frequencies, i.e., on the order of mm wavelengths, the spacing between the radiators is on the order of thousandths of an inch. This close spacing makes the fabrication of the face plate impractical.